Lee Pace: In his realm, you are at his mercy

As we previously reported, Lee’s been featured in the August issue of Empire (on newsstands now). The 13 pages long article takes us to New Zealand, which is currently full of dwarfs, elves and hobbits. The cast is slowly wrapping though. Peter Jackson yesterday shared on his facebook: “A day after saying goodbye to Gandalf and Tauriel, it was time to farewell Legolas. What a great day it was, with Orlando battling a serious Orc for all 12 hours of shooting – part of the Battle of the 5 Armies for the third Hobbit movie.”
The article also features the first The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug promotional image of Lee Pace as Thranduil, posing with a sword that has been made from a single piece of metal, with the handle carved into it.

Jackson tells Empire that “Thranduil has a contempt of his own for what is going on out there.”
“The delightful Lee Pace welcomes Empire into his trailer with a warm smile, high praise for the magazine’s ongoing coverage of The Hobbit and the offer of herbal tea,” Empire shares. Lee told them he sees Legolas’ father as “the same way that a tiger in a jungle is a dangerous thing” and admitted he has taken overnight hikes into the New Zealand wildness to get into an elven headspace. “In his realm, you are at his mercy,” he muses. “There is a simplicity to that. That corrupted forest (Mirkwood) is very much a reflection of who he is.” Talking about his inspirations, has called upon Oberon and The Fisher King.
“We should mention he is 3,000 years old,” Empire reminds us, “something of a mind-bogging concept for Pace.” The actor who plays the Elvenking comments: “He’s incredibly old but incredibly sensitive. It’s like he’s taken too many naps.”
“And yet he has a reputation of being the greatest fighter in the Middle Earth. His threat, thinks Pace, imposes interesting things on this movie. “He doesn’t readily choose to use his force.” The question arises of what will stir him out of his splendid, dragon-like isolation,” the journalist nicely concludes.

As Orlando Bloom says: “The elves always steal the show. In the best way.”

Gallery Link:
Magazine Scans > Empire (August 2013)